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Foreign Quarter (District)
The Foreign Quarter is where most non-native residents of Val Royeaux live, largely due to the relaxed tax restrictions. In most districts, non-citizens pay more for basic city services, but in the Foreign Quarter this is not the case. Local law also extends the protections citizens of Val Royeaux enjoy in other districts to anyone who has been a resident of the Foreign Quarter for at least 3 months. As a result, merchants who have business interests in the city, visitors from other lands who have run out of funds to buy passage back, foreign adventurers trying to make their fortune and other displaced peoples with no other home often end up here. The culture in the Foreign Quarter is even more tied to other nations than elsewhere in Val Royeaux and some blocks have a distinct Chelish or Callishite feel to them as members of those lands gather in tight, small communities. The Coliseum A massive arena that holds numerous fighting bouts each day. While many of that fight within are professional gladiators (some being slaves), there are always a few poor and dispossessed in the Foreign Quarter willing to take up a sword to earn enough coin to buy a better life or passage home. The local name for such untrained neophytes is “meat”. The building itself is a huge stone edifice with a 200-foot-high outer wall and a 10-acre central stage. Standing around the outer wall are 33 statues of famous warriors, masters of Kord’s faith and champions of the arena over the centuries. Each statue is 150 feet tall and facing outward. Flags can be hung from the arms and weapons of these statues, turning them into huge displays of upcoming events (though several are cracked from the Great Quakes). The arena is controlled by the “Master of Blades” who runs the staff that collects fees, controls bets, approves bouts and generally oversees the running of the arena. The Crimson Coin A typical tavern in most respects—a large, open mead-room, a balcony running around a second floor with rooms to rent by the hour and the day, with a large fire pit and a long serving bar—the Crimson Coin stands out for only two reasons. First, it has a deep earthen pit in the center of the Meadhall, roped off to protect drunkards from falling in, where anyone willing to put up a gold coin can try to last 60 seconds against the House Champion in a barefisted brawl. Second, it’s the only place off the Coliseum grounds where wagers can be placed on the outcome of major gladiatorial games. It’s a common retreat for young gladiators hoping to catch patronage. The owner of the Crimson Coin is Normal Iates, a canny merchant and trademaster who is also addicted to the gladiatorial games. Once a fighter himself, he’s now quite obese and often doesn’t feel like climbing the steps to his private box at the arena. He has a personal guard of eight half-orc warrior women he calls his “Amazons”. He’s passed numerous laws as Primarch to make it illegal to gamble on the games outside of his own establishment. Pugilist's Halls This is a squat, ugly building with no windows and open archways rather than doors. Inside are several circles of sand; each has a wooden podium with a clerk. Those wishing to fight in the Coliseum must first come here and convince the clerk to grant them writ of combat (after paying a small fee, of course). Blackblade's One of the many fighting schools in Val Royeaux, Blackblade’s is newer and more successful than most. It is run by Benkhal "Blackblade" Figaro, a renowned swordsman from beyond the shores of Borczeg. He runs a general fighting school, where anyone able to pay 5 gp a month can take classes on combat twice a week and personally tutors students that show special promise. His best students often become instructors. Unlike some fighting schools, Blackblade’s does not house its common students, nor does it have anysstaff whatsoever beyond Blackblade and whatever senior students Blackblade allows to teach. Formal classes end at sundown and the building shuts its doors and shutters, becoming a small fortress. Drunken song and laughter can often be heard late into the night, but Blackblade himself never shows any detrimental effect from such long celebrations. The Pathfinder Society Grand Lodge The Grand Lodge is a massive fortress, easily one of the biggest privately owned strongholds in the city. Established 400 years ago, it contains extensive grounds surrounded by a tall stone wall with a single, huge main gate (which is rarely closed), many yards and outbuildings and a series of Major Halls. It sits in front of one of the larger plazas in the Foreign District, ringed with shops that cater to adventurers of all stripes (and charge higher prices than anywhere else in the city). The wall encircles seven sturdy stone buildings of different architectural periods and styles, the largest of which—Skyreach—is an enormous, five-towered palace that stretches high above the other structures and the surrounding city. The Great Hall within Skyreach is designed to allow large numbers of agents to gather in safety for assemblies and exchanges and is comfortably appointed but lacks any unifying theme of décor. An ornate fountain magically produces cold water and an eclectic selection of chairs, rugs, divans, cushions, tables, stools, end tables and hammocks provide numerous places to sit and spread out maps or goods. The largest table is called the Atlas Tableaux, a mighty table 20 feet to a side that contains an Illusory Map of Borczeg. As new information about the regions is sent in by venture-captains, the illusory map somehow changed. The ceiling has a Hogwarts-style sky illusion. Most Pathfinders visiting Skyreach prefer the more intimate setting of a smaller lounge or meeting room, most of which have a number of comfortable chairs a small table or two and perhaps a fireplace. These places have such welcome names as The Den, the Pipeweed Nook, Second Home and so on. Frequent visitors to Skyreach tend to develop favorite rooms. Like any Pathfinder Lodge, the Grand Lodge has housing for iterant Pathfinders on legitimate business which is offered at no cost and with no oversight. Located in rickety wooden outer buildings of the facility, these rooms are each little more than a simple cell with a cot, a ledge to serve as a writing desk and stool.